在香港的法国小老板

It is not unusual to feel homesick while working abroad but when Jérôme Spitzer began to pine for the classic bistro fare he loved as a boy in Paris, he resisted hopping on to the next flight to Charles de Gaulle airport and took action.

在国外工作时想念家乡并不罕见，但当杰罗姆•斯皮策(Jérôme Spitzer)开始想念他小时候在巴黎钟爱的那种经典小馆菜肴时，他顶住了诱惑，没有登上下一班飞往戴高乐机场的航班，而是行动了起来。

The 25-year-old, who had arrived in Hong Kong 18 months earlier to work for a Spanish importer, found a kindred spirit in another French expatriate. Undaunted by the unfolding global financial crisis, the pair trawled the streets of Central, Hong Kong’s glitzy entertainment district, searching for small premises suitable for a traditional French-style bistro.

18个月前，这位25岁的年轻人来到香港为一家西班牙进口商工作，他发现一位与他志趣相投的法国同胞。二人不惧全球金融危机蔓延的影响，在香港华丽耀眼的娱乐区中环地区的街道上，寻找适合开设传统法式小馆的小店面。

The result was Pastis, which opened in 2009.

结果是Pastis在2009年开门迎宾。

Five years later they have six establishments dotted around Hong Kong Island, each styled to evoke a particular type of French brasserie. Step into Saint-Germain and you could be in an elegant café on Paris’s Left Bank, while Metropolitain in the upcoming Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood evokes an artsy Montmartre atmosphere.

5年后，他们已在香港岛上拥了有6家门店，每家都透露出独特的法国小馆风格。步入Saint-Germain，仿佛置身于巴黎左岸一个优雅的咖啡馆，而西营盘高街地区的Metropolitain则焕发出一种蒙马特艺术气息。

Today Mr Spitzer reflects on his decision to go into business, describing it as “a very selfish move, as much as for us as for the French community”.

如今，斯皮策在回想他从商的决定时，把它称为“一种非常利己的举动，既为了我们自己，也为了法国人群体”。

Hong Kong has long been home to French bankers and civil engineers, but Mr Spitzer exemplifies a new breed of French expatriate that has emerged in the territory in recent years: the petit entrepreneur.

长期以来，很多法国银行家和土木工程师不断来到香港，但斯皮策是最近几年在香港新出现的一类典型法国人：小企业主。

Five years ago small- and medium-sized businesses made up about 40 per cent of the businesses registered with the French chamber of commerce in Hong Kong; today this proportion has risen to 50 per cent.

5年前，中小型企业占香港法国工商总会注册企业总数的40%左右：如今这一比例已升至50%。

“French businesses in the city are really a snapshot of Hong Kong’s gross domestic product”, says Orianne Chenain, executive director of the French chamber of commerce. Expatriates have started businesses in all sorts of sectors, including retail, construction and hospitality.

法国工商总会执行董事奥里亚纳•舍南(Orianne Chenain)表示：“在港法国企业确实为香港的地区生产总值(GDP)做出了广泛贡献”。在香港的法国人在零售、建筑和餐饮等各行各业开办了企业。

There are a number of factors propelling this trend: the perceived ease of doing business compared to France, the appeal of French products to native Hong Kongers and expatriates alike as well as the growing French community itself, which reinforces the demand for homegrown goods and services.

推动这一趋势的因素很多：据认为香港具备比法国更明显的经商便利性，同时法国产品吸引着香港本地人和外籍人士以及不断壮大的法国人群体，这些促进了对法国国产商品和服务的需求。

More than 11,100 French citizens registered at the French Consulate in Hong Kong last year, almost double the 6,236 who did so in 2007, fuelled by the desire to seek opportunities away from their homeland. However officials estimate the real number is far higher – around 17,000.

去年，在法国驻香港总领事馆注册的法国公民超过了1.11万，几乎是2007年（6236人）的两倍，这得益于法国人希望在本国以外寻找机会。然而，官员们估计，实际数字要高的多，大约为1.7万人。

The French entrepreneurs believe setting up a business in Hong Kong is easier than it would be back home, given the relative lack of bureaucracy and low start-up costs. “The legal environment in France is perceived by French entrepreneurs as being more constrained,” says Ms Chenain.

法国创业者认为，香港官僚作风相对较少且创业成本较低，因而在香港创业要比在法国容易。舍南表示：“法国创业者认为，法国的法律环境限制更多。”

Mr Spitzer estimates that, had he set up a similar bistro in France, the cost would have been two to three times as great in Hong Kong.

斯皮策估计，如果他在法国开一家类似的小餐馆，成本将是香港的两到三倍。

“Hong Kong gave us the will to start as entrepreneurs and also the idea to set up our own company,” he says. “When we first came to Hong Kong we were not expecting to do something so fast.”

“香港让我们有了创业的意愿，还赋予了我们创建自己公司的想法，”他表示，“当我们初到香港时，我们没有料到事情会进展这么快。”

Rents are higher in Hong Kong, he notes, but the costs of doing business are mitigated by lower tax and longer opening hours.

他指出，香港的租金较高，但较低的税率以及较长的营业时间，都降低了经商成本。

Anthony Rendall, a French expatriate, swapped a life penning travel guides for French publisher Gallimard to launch a business importing French wine for the Hong Kong market. He says that the time and paperwork needed to register a business is far less.

法国人安东尼•伦德尔(Anthony Rendall)原来的工作是为法国出版社Gallimard撰写旅行指南，如今他开设了一家公司，为香港市场进口法国红酒。他表示，注册企业所需时间和填表申请工作比法国要少得多。

“Within two days and for HK$150 (£12) I had a limited company, a bank account and was set for business,” he says. “Everything was made so simple from the first day.”

“我用两天不到的时间花150港元（合12英镑）就拥有了一家有限公司、一个银行账户，可以开业了，”他表示，“从第一天起，一切都是如此简单。”

The perception of the French lifestyle as the epitome of style by Hong Kong Chinese and tourists from mainland China is a large part of the reason why French consumer and leisure businesses are proliferating in Hong Kong.

香港华人和来自中国内地的游客将法国生活方式视为风尚的典范，这是法国消费和休闲企业在香港不断增多的一个很重要的原因。

Mr Rendall, who retained a deep affection for Hong Kong after being brought up there, spotted a gap in the market for selling good quality, affordable French wine.

伦德尔在香港长大，对香港有着很深的感情，他发现香港在质量上乘的平价法国红酒销售市场存在一个空白。

“Most of the upper tier wines are very expensive and of the middle range wines very little is available, and they are mostly New World wines,” he says. “If you want to buy something good the price is HK$300, in France the prices are a third of that.”

“多数高档红酒价格非常昂贵，而市场上中档红酒非常少，多数是新世界葡萄酒（New World，指除欧洲以外产区的葡萄酒），”他表示，“如果你想买一些不错的红酒，价格在300港元，而在法国，价格只有香港的三分之一。”

In May, together with his sister, a wine critic, he launched the business and also began hosting wine-tasting sessions aboard a traditional junk boat, a type of outing perennially popular with expats.

今年5月，他与身为酒评家的姐姐开了这家公司，还开始在一艘传统的仿古船上开设品酒会，这种出游方式在香港外籍人士中一直很受欢迎。

“A junk is part of the Hong Kong lifestyle and part of the French lifestyle was missing,” he says.

他表示：“仿古船是香港生活方式的一部分，法国的部分生活方式正在消失。”

Contrasting his childhood memories of a virtually empty French school during the seventies to the present day, he believes the swelling community in itself encourages more to follow in their footsteps.

在他儿时的回忆中，上世纪70年代的法国学校几乎空无一人，这与现在形成对比，他认为，这个不断壮大的群体正鼓励更多人追随他们的步伐。

Arnault Castel, who owns several stores selling brands including French fashion houses Carven and Kenzo, says he is “happily the victim of a stereotype.”

阿尔诺•卡斯特尔(Arnault Castel)拥有几家门店，销售包括法国时装品牌Carven和Kenzo在内的品牌，他表示，他“很高兴成为了老一套模式的牺牲品。”

The former banker moved to Hong Kong in 1996 but was struck by the absence of European-style boutiques as opposed to the brash luxury malls that had sprung up across the city. “It was not really planned [but] it is really very easy to start a business here; the initial investment is quite low,” he says.

卡斯特尔之前是一位银行人士，1996年移居香港，他注意到，尽管香港的豪华商厦拔地而起，但缺少欧洲风格的精品店。他表示：“实际上我没有什么计划（但）在这里创业确实非常容易，初始投资非常低。”

The chain, named Kapok, was founded in 2006 and targets Hong Kong’s young, affluent and style-conscious crowd. There are now thirteen stores across Singapore, Tokyo and Taipei with half of them in Hong Kong.

他经营的连锁店名为Kapok，创建于2006年，瞄准香港那些年轻富有且关注格调的人群。如今，他在新加坡、东京和台北等地开设了13家店面，其中有一半位于香港。

The designer clothing and quirky jewellery are especially popular with Japanese tourists and, increasingly, those from mainland China who come to Hong Kong to shop.

设计师服装以及新奇古怪的珠宝特别受日本游客的欢迎，而且越来越受到来香港扫货的中国内地游客的欢迎。

“We focus on really small, really emerging brands,” Mr Castel says. “People are looking for something a bit different.”

“我们关注的是非常小、非常新的品牌，”卡斯特尔表示，“人们在寻找一些有点不同的东西。”

For a new generation of Asian Francophiles seduced by the fantasy of la vie Française, that something different often means seeking a dash of French style. “The expatriate community is acting as an opinion leader,” Mr. Rendall says. “People from every walk of life come to Hong Kong, and we’ve reached cultural and critical mass.”

对于被法国生活吸引、憧憬法国的新一代亚洲人而言，与众不同通常意味着寻求一抹法国风格。“这些在香港的外籍群体正成为舆论领袖，”伦德尔表示，“各行各业的人们来到香港，我们实现了文化的大融合。”